According to our local water board, there is still no water in our neighbourhood and it could be a few more weeks before there is. So DH needs to take enough drinking water back with him to last a couple of weeks. He will be able to use the water still in our hot water tank for flushing the toilet and washing but it will be difficult to wash clothes and have a decent shower or wash dishes. Somehow despite this he still has to go to work every day and there might not be any water at his office either. Gee I hope they have some chemical toilets there at least...
So over the last week or so we have been buying a couple of bottles of water each time we went to the supermarket. Yesterday, or was it the day before there was the announcement about levels of something or rather in the water in Tokyo and other areas and that people should not give tap water to children under 1 year old. Que panic as everyone goes out and tries to buy bottled water. On the TV they showed supermarkets requiring parents to produce their parent/child book as evidence before they will be sold one or two bottles of water. This panic seems to have stretched as far as Tottori as yesterday there was no bottled water in some of the shops here and a limit to 6 bottles per person in one shop we went to where we bought some imported water that might be as dodgy as the stuff coming out of the tap or worse. I looked around the supermarket and noticed a lot more people buying water than 2-3 days ago when we were pretty much the only ones.
They were also people who had children with them so I guess they weren't buying it to send to people in Tokyo but "just in case".
All well and good to have water on hand for drinking should a natural disaster occur. But I feel that the motivation here was just a bit too much lets all panic along with people in areas where there is actually a problem. A phenomenon I'm sure not restricted to Japan but I wonder if it isn't something that people here excel at.
people everywhere panic- not only japanese speciiality. The panic buying here when the floods were coming was insane. Unfortunately I had agreed to buy fizzy water for Greg, so had to stand in line with the rest of the nuts.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember- but does anywhere sell the multi litre water containers? Provided you have a way of transferring the water to smaller containers(as needed), they may work better. Also, buy a big, sealable container and fill it in Tottori. Not sure how it will stand up to the drive, but it gives an extra amount of water, that can be used for drinking or more cleanly pursuts.
Jetstar is going to have a cheap Oz/NZ set of flights on sale later today as well.
DH got some big tanky type things from his dad who is a farmer but our car is so full of stuff, I don't think he will fill them up here before we leave.
ReplyDeleteI guess in the case of the floods, you kind of knew they were on the way, esp in Brisbane which would give everyone a chance to panic in advance.
No more bottled water in Tottori for sale today...
I'm pretty sure panic is part of every human's genetic makeup. I'm from Canada & I can tell you that BC is sold out of Iodine tablets, & here in Toronto there has been an increase in their sales.
ReplyDeleteSide note, I really do enjoy your blog I find it very interesting, even before the earthquake. Have a good trip btw.
I know we would have to leave our home if we had no water for even 2 days. We are in a rural location and have a well. This reminds me to re-stock the basement for just such an occasion. (Power outages from storms are the biggest culprit around my home.) At the very least to have water to flush toilets and water the cat and dog. The funny thing is we have a huge cistern in our 110 yr old basement, but it is disabled, has no hardware and no way to collect the water, in order to actually use it in a long term emergency.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is my favorite. But I do look forward to your life getting back to normal. Ha ha, like that will ever happen with a baby on the way!!!
I'm glad to hear you have a back up location to see a doctor and have the baby.
Have a nice safe trip to NZ.
~Kellie
Hi Kellie and Crystal_Pye
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. It's very interesting to hear that the iodine tablets have sold out in BC, Canada! Esp since taking them is not recommended unless absolutely nec since there are side effects!
Yes, I fear my "normal life" will possibly never come back! Oh well, things aren't so bad for us, so I am happy.
We had bottled water shortages here in Oita too! And limits on other items such as nappies and formula. I think things are turning round now though. Glad hub was able to stock up before heading home.Your sister's place sounds lovely, a nice calm place to be right now.
ReplyDeletexxx